The Coffee Effect
by Matron of Madness
Summary: He used to enjoy the silence. He still did, really. But lately, he found himself listening. Waiting. Every afternoon, without fail, he'd hear her bounding down the stairs to The Roost, excited over something so simple as a cup of coffee. And every afternoon, without fail, he'd make her a cup more special than the one before.


I don't own Animal Crossing, or its characters!

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Carefully, Brewster took his cleaning cloth into his wing, rubbing it around the interior of the dirty coffee cup he had in his grasp. The soft squeak the surfaces made upon touching seemed loud and sensitive in the empty space under the museum, the only other sound to combat it being the soft piano music that played throughout the day. No one was there; most days were slow, except for Saturday nights. He didn't mind. He liked it. The silence was... welcoming. He was used to it.

But, lately, it wasn't always like that. Every now and again, there was a disturbance. Ever since she moved in, it had begun. Every day, without fail, around six in the afternoon, he would hear her coming before she even finished walking down the stairs. So used to it had he become that sometimes he'd even start preparing the coffee for her before she reached the bottom; he would just hand her the cup, and with a smile, she would take it.

And, without fail, he heard her coming. The soft patter of her sneakers on the wooden steps triggered his reaction as he set down the cup and went to make her coffee. She didn't have to order anymore. Unless she wished to try something new, and it didn't seem like she often did, she would always ask for black coffee, though he snuck in cream sometimes to enhance the flavor.

He glanced to his side when he heard the steps come to a stop, met with the sight of the blue-haired human who stood at the corner of the bar table with a smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Mr. Brewster!" she spoke energetically, but her voice wasn't overbearing. She was optimistic, but quiet and thoughtful, all the same. In a way, she reminded him of Blathers and Celeste, except less likely to yell at random. Or fall asleep standing.

He grunted in response, nodding his head. "Miss Navigale..." Used to his curt greetings, she smiled kindly and took her usual seat at the bar. She watched him preparing her coffee, a curious glint in her eyes. She'd been doing that lately, he'd noticed. He didn't let it show that he knew she was watching, however. Nor did he ask her why.

"Here you go. One piping hot coffee. Better drink up while it's hot..." He finished up her cup and walked over, offering it to her carefully so he didn't spill the contents. She took it from him and immediately took a sip, her nose scrunching from what he assumed was a liquid burn, but in the end, she smiled.

"It's great!" she chimed, happily. He felt a bit of pride swell up in him from the received praise and bowed his head, bashfully grabbing the cup he was cleaning earlier to continue doing so. He heard her clink money onto the table.

"...Thanks." He didn't glance up, expecting her to make her leave, as that was how their exchanges usually went. It was nice to see her every day, even if only for a few minutes. This time, however, he did not hear her weight lift from the seat. He paused what he was doing and looked up at her, curiously. "Something... else you need?"

"Um, actually..." Navigale stared at her almost empty cup. She had always been fast at drinking the coffee; once, when he'd asked her why, she'd said it was because she didn't want to disappoint him by letting it get cold after he'd worked so hard on it. Strange human. "I wanted to ask you about... Well, you said you're interested gyroids, right? I overheard you mentioning that to Pelly the other night, so..." She finished the last bit of coffee and pushed her cup forward gently.

Brewster set aside the cup he'd been working on and took the one she had finished, rinsing it out as he considered her question. Once he'd turned the water off and begun to scrub that cup down, he nodded once. "Yes..."

Navigale's expression lit up immediately. "Oh! I'm glad. You see, I collect a lot of them because I find them around town every so often. So... I figured since you're interested in them, I could show you some of them every now and again when I find them! Maybe you could even go looking for them with me one day you're not working! Or... you're always working, aren't you? Well... we can work something out!"

He looked up at her, a bit confused on why she had suddenly brought all of this up. So used to the quiet was he, her excited words filling The Roost sounded foreign. He sighed quietly and looked back down at the cup. "I'll think over it." She didn't seem all that surprised by his vague answer, as her spirits weren't dampened at all. It was something he admired about the girl, even though he didn't know her very well. People and animals who were like that seemed to brighten up dark rooms no matter what coffee shop they were sitting in.

"Okay! Just let me know, alright!? I mean, it would be fun! But, either way, I'm still going to come show them to you every now and again, alright? Who knows, maybe you'll even want to keep a few. They might sound cool with the piano music you've always got going in here." She giggled and looked around the coffee shop before hopping off her stool. She bowed quickly. "Thanks for the coffee as always, Brewster! I'll see you tomorrow for sure!"

Without waiting for his reply – he rarely gave one – she turned and made her way over to the exit. Before she could get her foot onto the first step, however, he sighed and piped up, "Miss Navigale..." He heard her stride pause, but didn't look up from the cup he was cleaning. "If you ever have any gyroids taking up space... give them to me. I'll store them here for you. Only one of each kind, due to lack of space, but... it should help."

He could practically feel her friendly smile boring into him, almost making him pause in his movements. But he didn't. He just kept cleaning, as if he had not said anything at all. "Really? Wow, that'd be a big help! Thanks again! I'll have to take you up on that offer... Aha, have a good night!" Shortly afterwards, he felt the fast pattering of sneakers on wood as she scampered back up the stairs, her humming voice echoing down to the once more empty coffee shop as she did so.

"...You too," he murmured, setting the cup off to the side. He stepped back from the counter and looked around to make sure everything was in order. He gaze landed on a small container of pigeon milk to the side. It was one of the special ingredients he kept around; one that he wouldn't give out, even on request. "..." He grabbed his cloth and picked up another cup, settling into the silence once more.

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**Okay, so! This is just a little side-project I'm doing with some of my other stories that I desperately need to update but am forever writer-blocked on. Sob. I'm planning on keeping all the chapters for this really short, so they're more like... drabbleish things depicting little interactions between Navigale and Brewster, I guess? But it'll be a relatively long story/series of drabbleish things (longer than my other AC fanfics, anyways), so chapter amount will hopefully make up for that. I just figured if I had something small to keep my imagination working during long-fic updates, I could actually stray away from writer's block better... aha... ha.**

**I hinted at this in my _His Bag of Bells_ fic, but decided to go ahead and start it instead of waiting to finish that one. Reason being this: I've lost a lot of inspiration for AC fics due to having not played it in a while... BUT, since the new game is coming out soon and I've already had it pre-ordered for a year now (yay!), I figured I'd start getting myself back into it because heaven knows if I don't, that game will! :D**

**Anyways, yeah. The Brewster. There aren't words to describe my love for Brewster. So, I'm basically writing this based off the "friendship arc" that happens in the game when your character visits him every day. Fun times ahead! ;w;**

**Hope you enjoyed my first short little drabble thing chapter. Others will be more eventful as always, I just, askdfjalsng. /still forever awkward with first chapters;  
I haven't changed much during my hiatus, haha. OTL**

**Forever chugging coffee in museum basements,  
**– **Matron of Madness.**


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